Honor Guard
by CB60
Summary: One shot. Memorial Day Celebration


_I own none of the characters, they all belong to JE. _

_I did enjoy working with them to day and hoe they decide to come and play again._

_**Let me express to all of the service men and women who have put their lives on the line to protect and defend this country, a sincere thank you. Bless you for your service**_

**HONOR GUARD**

The letter was from the Mayor of Trenton.

Ricardo Manoso and Rangeman Security:

The City of Trenton is planning the Annual Memorial Day Parade and Service for our Military Heroes. We request your service in the capacity of Honor Guard at the Memorial Service. As such you would march in the Parade and stand as Honor Guard at the cemetery.

I would like to request you wear dress uniform.

Please advise this office of your intent.

Sincerely:

Joe Juniak, Mayor of Trenton

Ranger perused the letter from the mayor. He had never requested such services before, but this was a special year. This was the tenth anniversary of 911 and the war was still in full swing. Many good men had lost their lives and the loss would go on.

Ranger was in deep thought. Visions of the battle and the tragedies that had occurred were playing in his mind. The Rangeman crew had been called several times for covert missions. Thankfully they had all come back safe and whole. Well, as whole as one could be after dealing with such pain and devastation. Those memories would always be in his mind. The dark terror that one man could place on another was almost too much to understand. The sights and actions left permanent stains on the soul. The loss of life was tragic and there was no end in sight.

Ranger called a meeting of the core team for noon that day. They would discuss this request. His men were good, loyal and honorable men. They had put their lives on the line for this country many times and he was sure they would be needed again. This was a small thing to do and he felt that he knew what the vote would be.

The conference room filled with the core team, Tank, Lester, Bobby and Steph.

The men had all served with him and were his brothers, in battle and in life. He was closer to them than any blood relative. They had saved each other in battle and carried one another to safety. The four men always had each other's back, whether it was in the ghetto, the jungle or the desert they were together if not in body, in spirit. For ten years they had been together Tank had saved his ass so many time he couldn't count, Lester and he were cousins and had mourned as they lost Lester's brother, Bobby had patched them up and helped them heal. "The four Amigos" he chuckled.

Steph made five Amigos. She had been with them for over two years. She held his heart and soul, she was the love of his life and he couldn't think of life without her. **To be a couple** they had to change. **Do you have to put your single self on the shelf? **Yes they did to some extent**. **They learned to be open and were still working on communication. Since they married she was the center of his life.

The guys took her in as one of them, she is there sister. We all know she has our backs and would give her life for any of us, as we would her. God, I hope it never comes to that. Steph looks at us all as honorable men; she believes in what we do and supports us. Never has she showed anything but love and trust in us. Not like some people who see us as thugs or worse yet, pieces of meat to enjoy sexually and kick aside when they are ready to settle into a family life. Steph loves us as we are. She affectionately calls the team the Merry Men.

Handing each person a copy of the letter from the Mayor, "We need to discuss this request. It is outside our norm and I will understand if you are not comfortable with it."

Steph was the first to speak, "Ranger, I know Rangeman tries to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. Won't this be a very public display? You could have all your faces in the paper."

"I have thought of that, but the Mayor gave a little wild card when he said dress uniform. Dress uniform means a cover with a large bill. Positioned correctly it provides a good cover for most of the face and would block most camera shots. The dress uniform in our branch of the service does not require a name tag. I think we can do this without too much exposure, plus we will be surrounded with other active duty troops."

Tank, Lester and Bobby all agreed we should do this.

Lester added, "We should include the other men who are still active duty. They may feel the same." We were all in agreement so I went to call the Mayor.

It was agreed we would not be singled out and that no special attention would be brought to our team.

Memorial Day started bright and sunny with Steph and I making love, she puts the sunshine in my day. "Steph; **today when I woke, I thought, What if I…,what if I had never met you?**

My life would be so cold and dark; I pressed my forehead to hers and gazed in her eyes.

"Carlos, you did meet me, you made me whole. I can't imagine how lonely my life would be without you."She pulled me out of bed to shower and dress.

My dress uniform was already pressed and dressed with medals and ribbons so our morning went quickly.

Trenton is a good sized town so the Parade route was long. There was the usual, clowns, bands from different schools in the area, men on horseback, floats celebrating the day, and hundreds of VFW, American Legions and active duty soldiers. I had made sure our troops were sandwiched between others with banners and flags.

Stopping in front of the reviewing stand, we stood at parade rest to listen to the Mayor's speech.

"**How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes? **Those brave men and women who have given their lives to protect our freedom. **Valor grows by daring, fear by holding back. ** The fine men and women we honor today did not hold back, they marched into battle with pride to protect our home land and our way of life. **A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. **We honor these true heroes today we applaud their sacrifice. **It is foolish and wrong to mourn men who died**. **Rather we should thank God that such men lived. **They are the backbone of this country. Without our heroes this country would have died many wars ago. **The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name, and the inheritance of a great example. **As we proceed to the cemetery, may we all open our hearts to the men and women who given themselves everyday for our country and our freedom.

The parade continued through downtown and to the cemetery where many fallen heroes rested. There were military heroes, and civil heroes; the men and women who had given their lives to protect and save others. Police, firemen, EMTs, military service men and private citizens who had given there all to save others; These are the people we honor today** Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose. **Today we honor our friends, family, comrades and protectors, let us never forget the sacrifices they made for us.

There were American Flags and flowers at almost every gravesite. The cemetery was a blaze of color. For this one day there were few forgotten.

We all gathered around Steph. She had tears on her cheeks, and all of our eyes were moist too. "You know guys, that was so touching. I can remember every year my whole family would make a day to go to the cemetery, to place flowers on the family graves. We have lost many, most I never knew. But Grandma would always tell stories about the lost and share memories. Sometimes when we were young she would bring her photo album, so we could know our relatives. She remembered relatives dying in WW1, and WW2. She would tell of great uncles who served in the Civil War. She once told me that my Great-Great Grandfather was the Sheriff in Trenton when it wasn't much more than a stage stop. The picture of him was a Tin-Type and he looked very tough and strong. So, I guess I have a long history to remember, and it goes on with the wonderful men I call family." She started with Tank and gave each of us a hug and a kiss and a thank you. She saved the biggest kiss for last.

We loaded into the vehicles and headed back to Rangeman, to change clothes and get ready for the big celebration and dance in town.

I had called in contract worker so the regular crew could all join in the fun. Families need to be together today and we're family.

Word count 1540 excluding Title and AN

Please excuse any error but they are all mine. This is in response to a special challenge from Lisa. Hope you liked it.


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